On Thursday, March 1, Stayton Intermediate School hosted an AVID Showcase where nearly 40 visitors from Portland Public Schools, Greater Albany Public Schools, North Clackamas, Jefferson and other districts, came to see AVID in action.

AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, and is a college-readiness system that helps students learn to organize their materials and their thinking and develop social and academic success skills. Stayton Middle and High School have been implementing AVID since the fall of 2016, and Stayton Intermediate School began to implement this year.

During the Showcase, 7th and 8th grade AVID students from Stayton Middle School served as ambassadors to greet the visitors and help them find the classrooms in the Intermediate building that they visited.

A panel of 4th and 5th grade students answered questions from the guests, expressing how they feel they’ve grown as students and learned to be more organized since the implementation of AVID this school year. Teachers Rebecca Mitchell, Joanna Abraham and Megan Schiedler also fielded questions from the audience.

These teachers spoke to the learning they’ve engaged in to implement new teaching strategies and the way that they have supported one another in grade-level teams to try new things and plan together.

Rebecca Mitchell, a 5th grade teacher, said: “It has been amazing to see my students’ growth in organization through the use of a daily planner. The planner helps them keep track of not only their school agenda but their home reminders as well. One of the biggest things I love about AVID is that it helps me incorporate student inquiry and deep thinking strategies into all subject areas. Many strategies incorporate collaboration, which pushes my students to speak academically and to back up their thoughts using evidence. My students and I have grown a lot this year...and we will continue to reflect and set growth goals.”

It is unusual for a school in its first year to be invited to host an AVID Showcase. Stayton Intermediate School has implemented this system with a very high level of success, in large part due to the leadership of principal Mike Proctor, assistant principal Matt Olson, and AVID Site Coordinator Jessica Roth.

George Leidigh, the elementary program manager for the Western Division of AVID, commented that Stayton Intermediate School is “one of the most well organized implementations I have observed. It clearly [is] a school where all students appear to have equal access to a quality education, regardless of the teacher students are assigned to.”

Tonia Whisman is the Executive Assistant for the superintendent and North Santiam School District.